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No Time Like the Present

November 7, 2015

November 8, 2015

How often do you find yourself saying, “I can’t wait for Next weekend” or “Friday night can’t get here soon enough?” In college you pretty much live for the weekend just so you have a break from schoolwork. But so often we find ourselves looking forward to something that we don’t even realize how precious time really is, and how limited our time here is to be wishing it away.

“To live for the weekend is, after all, to waste 71.43 % of your life.”

Yeah you can’t exactly stay out late on weeknights, or have a laundry list of things to do on a Tuesday night, but what I think everyone needs to learn is how to be okay with the now. Every minute passing of each day is a minute you will never have back. You are the oldest you’ve ever been, and the youngest you will ever be again – isn’t that daunting? So make use of it. Do something, even if it’s meaningless to everyone besides you. Wake up in the morning with a smile on your face and get motivated. My mom used to tell me that if I told myself when I woke up that “today is gonna be a good day”, it would be. You just have to have the right mindset. Its up to you, don’t just try to get through the day, make it count. No matter how you feel get up, dress up, and show up. Instead of waiting for Friday, do something you’ll be proud of today; it may just be all you have.

Recently my dad was in a severe car accident on his way to work. It was still dark out when he was making the thirty-minute drive to PK Lake when he came directly upon a black horse standing in the middle of the highway. He had no time to react before he slammed into the 1,000-pound animal. The horse plowed into the front end of his truck, then rolled over the roof as the momentum drug it upward, sending my dad into the other lane with no brakes and a cloud of smoke in his view. He could tell he was on the wrong side and managed to turn his wheel back to the right side of the road until drifting to a stop. My dad made it out of the accident with not even a scratch as proof to what happened, but his truck told another story – the front end was completely crushed, and there were hoof prints on the roof.

I had no knowledge of the accident, however it did become known to me when my parents came to see me at college. My surprise lunch turned into a cold story of the accident and rental car shopping. They hadn’t told me what happened until I met them in person because they didn’t want to worry me with a phone call or text, and worry me they would have. What a scary thought it is that I was going about my day while my father was in a terrible accident. I woke up that morning tired, dreading my 9 am class, and annoyed because of a surprise quiz – all the while my problems were so small.

I wonder how lucky I got to be able to see my dad again for lunch that day, I realized I never texted goodnight back to him the night before – too caught up in schoolwork to notice. If there is anything I’ve learned in the past year it is how short life is, and how little time we have to make the most out of our life. The time you have on earth and with the people you love shouldn’t be spent wishing for a better day, or a fun weekend. You make the choice to make each day meaningful. Even if the most you do all day is relax and reflect, that’s alright. Sometimes slowing down forces you to see the path your life is going, whether you’re just coasting with a job you don’t like, or you’re too afraid to say the right words to the right person. Whatever you find that’s holding you back, stop letting it. Life is too damn short to spend your days unhappy. Other times reflecting makes you see how little your problems are to reality – is this test grade really going to determine the rest of my life? Probably not. To actually pause and realize all the good I have around me makes me wonder how I could ever wish away what my life is today. I don’t need to fast forward to the parts of my life where I‘m graduated, I’m successful, and I have a career. I am happy with where I’m at today – being a foolish teenager, learning from my mistakes, and living what will be the best years of my life.